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Noordam Southern Caribbean Dec. 27 - Jan. 7, 2013

Ineke

By Ineke,
in Holland America Line

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Ineke

Ineke

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We had a wonderful cruise on the Noordam 11 day Southern Caribbean Wayfarer Holiday cruise over New Year's. This was the second half of a collectors cruise, which initially began on Dec. 17. I'll try to note some of the things that stood out for us, and will try to do so in a somewhat organized manner.

 

We are 'late middle-aged' (in our opinion), not over the hill but not youngsters either. Our last 3 cruises had been with Celebrity, so it was interesting to draw some comparisons.

We flew in from Vancouver on the 26th, spent the night (or what was left of it) at the Best Western Oceanside, - a great choice incidentally - before joining the Noordam on Wednesday afternoon.

 

Embarkation and Disembarkation: the quickest, smoothest, most pleasant experience ever. We were on board and in our cabin within 10 minutes - disembarkation same process - Way to go, HAL! Definitely 1-0 HAL over Celebrity on this one.

 

Cabin: VB on deck 6, starboard side. We were very close to the front of the ship. There was definitely noticeable motion at times, but this is my first ever cruise that I never once felt the slightest bit queasy - great! Slept great, bed very comfortable. The cabin is well equipped and spacious, lots of storage. We loved our verandah, and spent a lot of time out there. It was a long walk to the MDR and Lido, which was probably a good thing :) We had one minor issue with the door lock, which was attended to immediately and followed up that day and the next to make sure it had been fixed and addressed appropriately. While waiting for the locksmith there were complimentary drinks and a lovely plate of chocolates the next day. Way to go, HAL!

 

Dining: we had late seating (yay!), great table partners. After some initial confusion the first evening, everything settled into a very smooth pattern and we had no problems with either our table stewards or wine steward, all did their jobs in a consistently professional and pleasant way. The quality of the food overall was good. I did not have anything I didn't enjoy, my husband did have one dish that was inedible, and we saw a number of people around us had the same problem - I think it was called beef paillard? The food was not always as hot as I'd like it. The choices were more than adequate, but I think Celebrity has the slight edge here, also as far as presentation is concerned. That said, I had some outstanding cuts of lamb and prime rib, and the portion sizes were just right for us. We had brought our own wine and did not order any from the wine menu, so can't comment on that. DH had cappucino every evening, and after the first day did not have to ask for it.

Breakfast was enjoyed in the Lido and was consistently lovely, especially that fresh squeezed orange juice. We tried to sit outside as much as possible and did not have any problems finding a place to sit. The coffee was OK, but I'd recommend staying away from the coffee in the big urns, use the 1 cup at a time machines and it is good. (and yes, it's from real coffee, not a concentrate or anything - I watched them make it several times).

For lunch we either had a salad from the salad bar or went to the Grill where we thoroughly enjoyed the Dutch touch with croquettes :) Happy happy!

We enjoyed Happy Hour in the Ocean Lounge or Crow's Nest, loved the hot appies, and DH was ecstatic that he could enjoy his Dutch jenever! They did not have it the last time we sailed with HAL, and certainly not on Celebrity, so this was an additional very good thing! Also, the cost of drinks on HAL is considerably less than on Celebrity, so another big score for HAL.

DH came down with a cold the day we arrived, and shared with me so that I came down with it a few days later. This did cramp our style a bit, we stayed on board and on our verandah far more than we had planned, and did not go ashore in St. Lucia, Barbados and Martinique. We also missed 3 evenings in the MDR and ordered room service, which was timely, efficient, and nicely served. It was much appreciated.

For the rest we spent time on deck 10 and especially on the promenade deck, where there is always a bit of shade on a hot day, on either one or the other side.

Due to the cold we both had we were not up to taking part in the Walk for the Cure, first time we missed, but this cold hit really hard and 11 days later it's still going strong.

We missed three shows as well, but enjoyed the other ones, espcially Siobhan (sorry can't remember her last name) and Jeff.

The ship was in great shape and as classy and elegant as they come.

The captain, John Scott, was great, we enjoyed listening to his daily updates, he speaks well and is easy to understand, and always explained what needed explaining. We also enjoyed his Q and A session, and much appreciated how he kept us all updated on the unexpected stop at Grand Turk for a medical emergency transfer. I do hope that whoever was taken off the ship made it safely to hospital and is recovering.

Tours and ports:

We went to the beach in St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Halfmoon Cay, beautiful! We loved our excursion on Dominica to Trafalgar Falls and Emerald Pool, even if all the stairs nearly did me in. It was great.

To finish off, we took the HAL airport transfer tour to the Everglades, a nice diversion from what could have been a very long day at the airport.

Our cabin stewards were nearly invisible, but our cabin was always neat and clean in what seemed like the blink of an eye, so efficient!

We had no problems with plumbing, A/C or anything like that.

We loved some of the 'Dutch' touches, such as oliebollen and appelflappen, raisin buns, the Indonesian birthday songs, and so many other things I cannot recall them all. Just ask if you have questions.

A few other notes: DH was talking to the 2nd officer and making conversation, found out that there had been many problems the first day due to crew change-overs, with new crew arriving just as the passengers were. There were definitely a few wrinkles the first day, but it was amazing to see how quickly it all started to work together, not an easy thing to do.

Also: note about formal days: there were many men in tuxes, lovely to see. For the rest, business suits etc. Those who did not want to go that route enjoyed the Lido, and that was fine, too.

We enjoyed the CC lunch the final day, thanks Laurie for all the organizing you did.

So are we back to being dedicated HAL passengers? As always, depends on itinerary, timing, cost etc. We are happy with X, we are happy with HAL. We had a great time, and came home feeling having enjoyed every minute of our cruise experience.

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eh2zed

eh2zed

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[Dominica was a very pleasant surprise. We took one one of the safari taxi tours available at the end of the pier. Went to rainforest, thermal pools, etc. $20USD pp for 3 hour tour. Was great.

quote=Cruising-along;36618492]Thank you so much for the informative review. :) We will be on the same cruise March 11-22, can't wait!

 

One question -- on Dominica did you have a HAL tour or private? If private, which tour company? We're trying to decide what to do there.

 

Thanks!

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Cruising-along

Cruising-along

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[Dominica was a very pleasant surprise. We took one one of the safari taxi tours available at the end of the pier. Went to rainforest, thermal pools, etc. $20USD pp for 3 hour tour. Was great.

 

 

quote=Cruising-along;36618492]Thank you so much for the informative review. :) We will be on the same cruise March 11-22, can't wait!

 

One question -- on Dominica did you have a HAL tour or private? If private, which tour company? We're trying to decide what to do there.

 

Thanks!

 

Thank you!!

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Ineke

Ineke

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@Cruising along: We took the HAL tour, I think it was the Best of Dominica. It was not terribly expensive, even though my guess is we could have done it for less with someone else, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Our guide was very well informed and shared a lot of good information about this little known island. He also was very patient, as I don't move all that fast, and made sure that we didn't fall too far behind on any of the trails.

We were happy we took the tour.

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Cruising-along

Cruising-along

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@Cruising along: We took the HAL tour, I think it was the Best of Dominica. It was not terribly expensive, even though my guess is we could have done it for less with someone else, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Our guide was very well informed and shared a lot of good information about this little known island. He also was very patient, as I don't move all that fast, and made sure that we didn't fall too far behind on any of the trails.

We were happy we took the tour.

 

Thank you -- that is the excursion I will book unless we get a group from our roll call going on a private tour. I noticed too that it looks like a good excursion and not too expensive. Nice to hear that you liked it. :)

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